


Two to Go

by Vinnocent



Series: Heroes and Wolves [14]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: As the darach continues kidnapping parents, Scott's friends end up in a showdown against the Alpha Pack in the hospital as both sides try to gain control over Jennifer Blake.
Series: Heroes and Wolves [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/117640
Kudos: 2





	1. part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, another reminder that these chapters are being uploaded from Tumblr where they originally appeared. I am not currently writing new fic and do not plan to.

“Derek?” Jennifer called desperately as she swung open the door to his loft. She hurried down into the main room. “Derek, where are you?”

“I’m right here,” he called, and she spun toward him. Relief washed over her, and she ran into his arms.

“Oh thank god,” she murmurred. She pulled away slightly. “Something happened,” she told him. “At the recital. At the school. Okay? I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear any of it from them.”

“From who?” Derek asked.

“From your pack,” she said. “From Boyd, from Isaac… They’re going to tell you things. Things you can’t believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust _me_.”

“What is it?” Derek asked, concerned.

“Promise you’ll listen to me,” Jennifer pled.

Derek nodded. “Promise.”

She considered for a moment. Then she leaned forward and kissed him. There was just the smallest hint of electric tingle against his lips as she did. He stood there and let her. Let her, but did not kiss back.

She withdrew, eying him suspiciously. “They’re already here, aren’t they?” she groaned.

Isaac dropped off the stairs with his usual over-dramatic display of power he didn’t have. “Hi, bitch,” he snapped.

Jennifer turned with a sneer to the rest of the loft. Stiles and Scott emerged from behind a partial wall. Boyd entered from the balcony. “So…” she said, turning back to Derek. “They told you it was me? That I’m the one taking people?”

“That you’re the one _killing_ people,” Scott corrected.

“Ooh! That’s right!” she laughed, like it was a joke. “Committing human sacrifices? While cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes _perfect_ sense.”

“Where’s my dad?” Stiles asked, unamused by her antics.

“How should I know?” she demanded. She turned back to Derek. “Derek. Tell me you don’t believe this.”

His eyes searched hers. Then, he looked past her to Stiles and Scott. He glanced toward Isaac and Boyd. “Do you know what happened to Stiles’s father?” he asked.

“No!” she insisted, voice breaking.

“Ask why she tried to kill Lydia,” Boyd said.

“Lydia Martin?!” Jennifer demanded. “I don’t know anything about that!”

“Then what do you know?” Derek challenged.

“I know,” she pled, “that these boys, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with an absurd story.” She turned to glare around at the teenagers. “And one they can’t prove, by the way!”

Scott lifted a small device. “What if we can?” he said.

She stared. “What is that?” she asked.

“It’s an EMP,” he explained. “Allison has started carrying them around ever since we found out what you are. Where you really come from.” He looked down at the device, then up at her again. “It won’t hurt you, but it will let us catch a glimpse.”

Her eyes slowly widened. She seemed to consider her options. Scott didn’t give her the time. He pressed the button. Her hologram flickered wildly, then returned to normal. But it had been enough for Derek’s alpha eyes. He had seen what lie underneath.

Wolfing out, he gripped her by the throat and shoved her into the air. She snickered at his trembling arm. “Don’t hurt yourself, sweetie,” she said, rolling her eyes.

He squeezed harder, hard enough to crush a human’s throat. For her, however, it just made her forcefield/hologram combo strain and flicker. “I know what you are,” he snarled.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m the only one who can save your sister.”

– –

“Dad!” Allison called, running into the Argent house. “Dad! Grandma!”

“Allison!” Chris snapped, stepping out into the hall. “You were meant to home _two hours_ ago.”

“I know! I know!” she cried. “But I went to the recital. I went to back up my friends. Dad… something terrible has happened! It’s Ms. Blake. Jennifer Blake. Our English teacher. She’s the killer. She’s the darach.”

“So tell the sheriff,” he said. “We can go look, but a druid is human. Ultimately–“

“This one’s not,” Allison insisted tearfully. “I… I’m sorry can’t tell you _every_ detail. I promised not to. Other people’s safety rests on me keeping certain things secret. But I can tell you that Ms. Blake is _not_ a human. Not even a monster. She’s a machine. And a hunter’s weapons won’t affect her. We need more. I think Tyler, if not Grandma, might have what we need.”

“Tyler?” Chris repeated, confused. “Why Tyler?”

Allison blinked up at him. “I… I thought you knew,” she said.

“Knew what?” he demanded.

Allison’s phone went off, and she checked her texts. “It’s Stiles,” she said. “Him, Scott, and Derek’s pack are escorting Ms. Blake to the hospital so she can fix Cora. We’ve got a window.” She glanced up at him. “Where’s Tyler?”

“Downstairs,” said Chris, and Allison took off. Chris hurried after her.

When she got to the basement door, she found it locked. The knobs had been changed out; it now locked from the inside. “Tyler!” she cried, beating on the door with her fists. “Tyler, come up here, it’s an emergency!” When he didn’t answer, she stepped back and kicked the door.

“Allison!” Chris cried out, but Allison kicked it again. Again. The door cracked and gave way. Her father called after her again as Allison ran down the stairs two at a time. When she hit the bottom, she found Tyler bent over a large copper-green tub with blinking, beeping controls. His face was contorted in pain as he held himself in place, gulping down steadying breaths. All the while, _something_ was sliding out of his ear.

Just as Chris hit the last step, the thing – a slug-shaped thing – dropped out of his ear and into the dross-like substance of the portable Yeerk pool. Tyler took a moment to collect himself, then turned to the two of them. “You have the _worst_ timing,” he groaned, still breathing heavily.

Allison ignored this entirely. “You know that sacrificed machinery you and grandma found?” she asked.

Tyler scowled at her in confusion. “Yes?” he said. “Agrona’s still cleaning up the last of it.”

“We’ve found the darach,” she said. “It’s something like that. It’s too dense to hit with a bullet; the sheriff tried. And it’s unimaginably strong. Do you have anything that can help with that?”

Tyler nodded. He pointed to the wall next to Chris. “Hit that switch, please,” he hissed.

Chris flipped the switch. The rest of the basement began to light up with rows of fluorescent lights. It’d had a makeover since Agrona and Tyler had torn out Gerard’s little torture chamber. Agrona had said it was a second armory of her and Tyler’s personal collection, but Chris had never thought anything of it. He’d assumed it was the usual werewolf-hunter fair.

He was wrong. Lining white-painted walls were row after row of weapons he’d never seen before. A range of shapes and sizes. One canon-like object attracted his attention because he was fairly certain the distribution of controls meant it was originally intended for someone with at least three hands.

Tyler pointed. “That one. Boom net. Very user-friendly. Ejects a charged field. Will probably slow it down temporarily. Will at least hurt,” he told Allison, and she hurried forward and pulled the weapon off the wall. Tyler pointed again. “The one. Disintegrator cannon. Point and shoot. Make sure no one you like is anywhere near the barrel because there will be nothing left of them but atoms. Haven’t done a density test, though, so I can’t guarantee it’ll burn up your robot.”

“Why are you in pain?” Chris asked, watching him carefully.

“I’m always in pain,” Tyler sneered. He nodded toward the portable pool. “ _She_ helps stem it. Any signals she can’t stop from happening, she swallows. The pain goes to her instead, and I get to lead a full life. Unlimited spoons. It’s not a bad deal.”

“She?” Chris repeated. He looked at the pool. “That’s a…?”

“Life lesson, Chris?” Tyler laughed. “Never doubt your mother. Even if she’s talking about space aliens.” He glanced to the portable pool. “It might just save your life.”

“Anything else?” asked Allison, and Tyler turned back to her.

He looked around at the arsenal. “Over there. Plastic gun. Looks like a toy. That’s an ‘open’ model handheld Dracon beam. Braeden Vela has a ‘closed’ model you may have seen. It’s basically a ‘ray gun.’ Less powerful overall than the disintegrator cannon, but much more focused. For what you’re describing, you’ll probably want it on the highest setting. Turn the dial to the symbol that looks kinda like a mailbox. It won’t destroy your robot, but it’ll burn a quarter-size hole straight through it. Depending on density, probably things behind it, too, so, again, make sure no one’s in the line of fire.”

He pointed to another area. “Those headphones. They’re sound amplifiers. But they can distinguish between close and distant noises, so no one firing a gun next to you will destroy your hearing,” he explained. “Over there are higher-power EMPs, but they’re not on the level of those panels in the old power plant, so I don’t know if they’re going to do anything to your robot. Mass frequency scramblers; they hit almost all of the human and nonhuman communications we know about.”

He looked around again. “And, uh… Oh, fuck it,” he said. “That, over there, is a Yeerk distress beacon. If you use it, the _Pentagon_ will come and find you and be very, very angry at you. But I figure that’s better than dying.”

Allison grabbed that, too, and brought some of the items over to her father. “I’m guessing you’re not coming?” she told Tyler.

He shook his head. “I’m definitely no good to you in battle without her,” he said, gesturing to the portable pool. “I’ll tell Agrona what happened and have the advanced weaponry ready for her when she gets here,” he said. “I’ll follow Agrona if she’s still not back by the time my Yeerk has finished feeding.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Does… _she_ not have a name?” he asked suspiciously.

Tyler shook his head. “She identifies by her former host’s name. That’s why we changed mine,” he explained. “But she doesn’t remember hers. I think the severance left pieces of each in the other. Sometimes, she thinks she’s human. She has…” His gaze became somewhat distant. His frown had a hint of concern. “She’s looked in the mirror and _screamed_ to see my face before.”

Allison tugged at her father’s arm. “We’ve got to go,” she told him. She headed up the stairs.

Chris looked around at the room. At the unimaginable weapons. At the pool. At Tyler’s pained and sweating face. He didn’t understand any of it. Not remotely. But he _did_ understand that now was not the time for questions. He shook his head and headed up after Allison.

– –

Melissa swore to herself. That had _better_ not be her son’s back retreating down the hallway. “Scott!” she called, running after him. “Scott!” He stopped and turned back to her. The people he was with – Stiles and Boyd and Isaac and Derek and… some woman? – all slowed and turned as well. “What are you doing here?” Melissa demanded. “The hospital’s evacuating. There’s a storm!”

“We’re here for Cora,” said Scott.

Melissa looked around at the group. “What, all of you?” Then, “Why does Stiles have my bat?”

“Mom, just trust me on this,” said Scott. “You need to get out of here. Right now.”

Melissa felt the same gut-wrenching grief that she had when she’d seen his werewolf form at the police station. She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus. “The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes,” she told him. “We’ve got two ambulances that are coming back. One’s ten minutes out. The other’s twenty. Cora needs to be on one of those. They’ll be picking up in the basement garage.”

Scott nodded. “Got it,” he said. He and the group hurried off.

Melissa watched them go. She stood there and watched them until Scott passed the far corner. If he died tonight, she’d never forgive herself.


	2. part 2

When they arrived at Cora’s room, neither Cora nor Erica were still there. There was, however, black bile mixed with mistletoe on the floor next to the bed. Dribbles across the floor led from the room, into the hall, and down to the next set of double doors. No sooner had they noticed this than Erica came flying backward through those doors, hitting the floor and sliding to a halt at their feet.

“I could use a little help,” she admitted.

Boyd and Isaac jumped into action. Unfortunately, what they were jumping into action against was the merged twins, who easily threw them back to the floor on either side of Erica. Derek rolled his eyes. “Can’t the Argents do _anything_ right?” he demanded before wolfing out.

He charged forward, grabbed Aithan around the waist, and pushed them back. Growling, Aithan slammed an elbow down into Derek’s back. Derek pulled back and slammed a punch into Aithan’s stomach. As he tried another punch to their face with his left hand, Aithan threw up their arms to block him. Aithan then grabbed his head and began punching him in the face. Repeatedly.

As they tossed Derek aside, Scott raced forward, leapt off the wall, and tried to claw at them, but they dodged. Out in the hall, Erica, Boyd, and Isaac began to climb to their feet. They returned their attention to the fight with the twins and began growling.

“No, wait!” hissed Stiles, throwing up an arm to block them. He then pointed past Aithan and Scott to where Cora lie unconscious on the floor. The werewolves exchanged glances, nodded at each other, and rushed forward. At the last second, Erica grabbed Stiles by the collar to pull him along with her.

Aithan slammed Scott up against wall, and Isaac slammed, hard as he could, into them. Erica, Boyd, and Stiles ran past. Erica picked up Cora, and Boyd positioned himself in front of her, ready to defend them. Stiles raised Melissa’s bat.

Aithan dropped Scott and threw Isaac off of them. “Ethan! Aiden! Stop!” Scott cried. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“All we want is her!” Aithan snarled in unison. Derek raised to his knees and looked around, catching sight of Jennifer disappearing into the elevator. Aithan ran after her.

With the terrible twins adequately distracted, the group made a run for it. Eventually, they ended up in an operating room. Stiles hesitated. “Don’t stop!” Derek yelled, pushing the others to the door at the end of the room. But Stiles went back anyway. He took his bat, waited by the door they’d just come through, and hit Aithan over the head when they came through.

His bat shattered. Aithan turned to him with annoyance. Finally remembering his sense of self-preservation, Stiles made a run for it around the side of the room. Aithan stood there in the middle of the room and roared at Derek and Scott, who had stayed behind. Scott jumped up, grabbed one of the wide, rectangular light fixtures, and slammed it into Aithan’s joined face.

– –

When Melissa reached the elevator, she stopped in surprise to see a folding long cane jutting out from the wall at eye-level. Curious, she reached up and pulled it out, surprised to find that the cane was tipped with a small, arrow-shaped blade.

She was even more surprised when the blind man came up behind her and gently, but firmly, pulled it from her grip. “Thank you Ms. McCall,” he said. He placed the plastic tip back over the blade while the woman accompanying him sneered at her.

“You’re him, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Him?” the blind man asked curiously.

“The bad guy,” said Melissa.

He smiled at her. “You have no idea,” he purred.

– –

Erica hurried into another operating room and deposited Cora on the table. As soon as everyone was through, Boyd and Isaac slammed their shoulders into the doors to make sure they stayed closed. “Where’s Voltron?” asked Stiles.

“He’s close,” Isaac assured him.

“What about Miss Blake?” asked Stiles.

“Did you not notice her bailing?” Erica demanded. “I had my arms full of _this_ mess, and _I_ noticed!”

“Are you _kidding_ me?!” Stiles demanded. “Did everyone forget why we _had_ her?!”

“Stiles, shut up!” Isaac snapped.

“ _Me_ shut up?” he demanded. “When _his_ psychotic, mass-murdering girlfriend – the second one he’s dated, by the way – is still out there on the loose, ready to ritually sacrifice my dad?” He pointed to Derek as he said it, just in case the “he” was unclear.

Scott clasped his shoulders, trying to get him to calm down. “Stiles, they’re still out there,” he said.

“And they want her!” Stiles insisted. “Right? Which means now that _we_ don’t have her, either! So my dad _and_ Cora are both dead!”

“Not yet,” Scott insisted. He turned to Erica, who was hovering over Cora. “ _Is_ she dying?” he asked.

Erica shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “But it doesn’t look good.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Scott insisted. “Some way we can help her?”

“You can’t.” Jennifer hit the doors so hard that Isaac and Boyd were sent tumbling. “Only I can,” she insisted, walking into the room. “I can save her. And I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of alphas in this hospital who want me dead.” She looked over the room. “So I’ll help you, but only when I’m out of here and safe. _Only_ then.”

Derek toppled a stand of instruments as he rushed toward her, but Scott leaped forward and held him back. “Derek!” he cried.

“She was trying to get out!” he snarled, jabbing a finger toward her.

“I was trying to keep from getting killed,” she said. “You can’t blame me for that.”

“Watch us,” Erica snarled, and the betas began to wolf out.

“Hey,” Stiles interrupted. “If you want to show that you’re one of the good guys, then heal her.”

“Not until I’m safe,” Jennifer insisted.

“Why don’t we just hit her until she does it?” Isaac snarled.

Jennifer rolled her eyes and dropped her hologram. “Remember how well that worked for Scott?” she asked him. The hologram went back up. “How’s the hand, by the way?” she asked Scott.

“Not your concern,” he snapped. One glance, however, revealed the truth. While it _was_ healing, it was still an ugly color, and all the fighting wasn’t helping it.

Suddenly, the intercom came on. “Um,” said Melissa’s voice. “Um, can I have your attention? Mr. Deucalion– Exc-cuse me. _Just_ Deucalion requests that you bring the robot calling itself Jennifer Blake to the ER reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes.”

The intercom switched off. Jennifer sneered at their panicked expressions. “He’s not going to hurt her,” she said.

“Shut up!” snapped Derek.

“He won’t!” she insisted. She turned to Scott. “Scott. You know why. He wants the true alpha.”

Scott thought about that. Then, he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he decided. “We need to get _her_ out of here,” he said, gesturing to Cora.

“But Melissa…” Isaac started, at the same time Stiles said, “Scott, your mom!”

“My mom said there’s one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes,” Scott reminded them. “I don’t think we’ve been here that long.”

“We’ve been here fifteen minutes,” Jennifer informed them.

Boyd rolled his eyes and muttered, “Of course, it has a clock.”

“So,” said Scott. “If we can get down to the garage and get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here.”

“There’s still the twins in the way,” Stiles reminded them.

Erica stepped away from Cora. “Alright then,” she said with a cocky smile. “Raise your hand if you’re ready to do something _stupid_!”

– –

“Can’t you drive faster?” Allison pled desperately.

“They’re trying to evacuate people from the storm regions,” Chris snapped. “There’s only so much I can do until we get off the highway.”

Allison screamed in frustration.


	3. part 3

“The ambulance is still here!” Stiles cried as he, Derek, Jennifer, and Cora (though she was still unconscious and being carried by Derek) all made it out to the basement garage. Stiles ran forward and opened up the back of the ambulance while Derek helped put Cora onto the stretcher and Jennifer ran around to the driver’s side.

“Derek!” she called.

Derek and Stiles exchanged suspicious glances, but there was no other option than to go see what she wanted. He found her staring down at the corpse of the ambulance driver.

“JuuuLIa!” Kali called in a sing-song voice.

Derek leaned over toward Jennifer, who seemed frozen in terror. “Can you take her?” he asked.

Kali stepped around the ambulance. “It _is_ you isn’t it?” she asked. She was spinning a set of vehicle keys around one finger. In her other hand was a small pail.

“Not with thermite,” said Jennifer.

“Then, _run_!” Derek grabbed her and pulled her back to the garage entrance. Kali took off after them, and Stiles pulled the doors of the ambulance shut.

Back in the hospital, Derek started to run down a corridor. “The elevator!” Jennifer cried, pointing. He followed her to the elevator and slammed a button at random. The doors closed before Kali could reach them and carried them up away from her. Then, suddenly, it stopped.

Derek tried to open the doors, but they would only budge about six inches. Just enough to show that the floor was at the ceiling; there was no way they could push through that. Well, maybe Jennifer if she dropped the force field/hologram, but she was refusing to go anywhere unaccompanied. “Can you push it wider?” Derek asked.

“Not without making a lot noise and attracting them,” she told him.

He looked up at the service hatch.

“Also would make more noise than it’s worth,” said Jennifer.

Derek made an exasperated noise. “Kali already knows where we are,” he told her.

“Not necessarily,” said Jennifer. The elevator suddenly disappeared as they were surrounded by glowing white. “Now they won’t see anything in here.”

Derek glared at her. “If you can mask yourself, why didn’t you just do that before?” he demanded.

“Because I have system damage,” Jennifer snapped. “As impressive as my technology may be by _your_ standards, it is not functioning well enough to trick someone who knows what they’re looking for. There is a good chance that Deucalion can perceive me. Kali or the twins definitely could if I was running. But, if we sit against that wall and are very still, then they will not.”

Derek watched her for a moment. Then, he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. “Can I get cell reception under your hologram?” he asked.

She looked at him skeptically. “Yes,” she said. “In fact, I could boost it if I wanted. Why?”

“Because, believe it or not, the last thing I want to do is sit around in an elevator with you while my sister dies in the garage,” he snarled.

– –

Isaac ran through the halls, hitting walls as he did. His left ankle had been twisted and was no longer participating in the fight. He was fairly certain he had cracked ribs. Erica and Boyd scrambled after him, and Boyd wrapped an arm around his waist to take weight of the ankle, now supporting both him and Erica, whose right leg and right arm had both been broken badly.

Finally, Scott joined them. “Come on!” he urged. He took Isaac from Boyd. “Go go go!”

“Go where?” Boyd demanded.

Scott looked around. Ahead was a door marked “soiled laundry.” He certainly smelled it. He pointed, and Boyd ran toward it with Erica. Scott shoved Isaac inside the room after them, slammed the door shut, and crouched down next to the window, looking out for the twins.

“You know…” said Boyd. “I don’t think I like them.”

There was a moment of silence in which they all turned and stared at him. Erica snickered first. Then, Isaac started quietly giggling. Finally, Scott sat on the floor with his back to the door and his hand clamped over his mouth, stifling laughter. Boyd had a big grin on his face.

“We have _literally_ been kicked silly,” Isaac grumbled.

“It’s all the adrenaline,” Boyd explained wearily.

“How do we get rid of them, though?” Scott asked.

“Maybe if we keep running, they’ll just get tired of how much we suck?” Erica suggested.

“Hey,” Boyd said, growing serious again. He pointed to a laundry shoot in the wall at the end. “What about that?”

A few minutes later, they were all heaped in a laundry basket at the end of the shaft, grumbling about who could’ve waited longer to jump down and who could have made better life decisions. The consensus was that Scott and Erica were overeager jumpers and that Boyd had made the worst life decisions, though that was largely because Boyd used both hands to vote for himself.

Scott shifted to pull his phone out of his pocket and read the text from Derek. Isaac gave him a pleading look. “Please tell me they made it out,” Isaac groaned.

“I could,” said Scott. “But I would be lying.” He texted Derek back that he was on his way, then pulled himself out of the laundry basket. He turned and started helping his friends out as well.

“Oo, gentlemanly!” Erica teased as Scott helped lift her out of the laundry basket. “Become an alpha sooner. I like you better.”

“You like everyone better,” Isaac protested as he climbed out the opposite side.

“That’s because everyone _is_ better,” Boyd told him. He made sure Erica was steady before hopping out of the basket himself.

“Guys…” Scott tried to object, blushing vividly. “I don’t… Let’s just find the ambulance.”

“I thought you said they didn’t make it,” Isaac said. He was leaning heavily on Scott as they made their way toward the garage. Despite Erica’s protests, Boyd decided it was easier simply to pick her up.

“Stiles and Cora are in the ambulance,” Scott explained. “Derek and Jennifer are in the elevator. Mom is also somewhere inside. We’re going to get you and Erica to the ambulance. Boyd and I will find my mom and try to get the generator restarted so that Derek and Jennifer can get out.”

“No way,” said Boyd. “We are not putting all our injured people in one spot with only Stiles to guard them.”

“Okay,” Scott said, nodding. “You stay with them.”

“Boyd, I’m fine!” Erica protested.

“You’re not fine,” said Boyd. “You can’t walk. You can’t punch things.”

“What about you?” asked Isaac. “You can’t go in there alone.”

“I’ll be fine,” Scott assured him. “I won’t be alone for long.”

– –

“Can you tell where they are?” Chris asked as he followed his daughter through the hospital while toting an oversized and strangely weighted alien weapon.

Allison scowled, pressing the bulky headphones tighter to her ear as though she thought that would make the sounds clearer. “I think this is the sort of thing that needs practice,” she said. “There’s murmurs everywhere, bouncing off walls while being simultaneously muffled by them.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how werewolves do this.”

“Well, they have animal instincts to guide them,” he said.

“Wait…” Allison held out an arm to stop him. She then put a finger to her lips to ask for silence. She listened carefully. Then… slowly… she crouched to the floor. “Below us,” she said.

– –

As Aithan threw a punch at his face, Scott decided that splitting up from Boyd had maybe been a bad idea. Scott tried to defend himself, but he failed miserably. Aithan pushed him into another wall, high over their head. Scott had to grasp at their arm and keep himself pulled up in order to keep from choking.

“ _Where is she?!_ ” they demanded.

Scott gagged.

“ _We’re trying not to hurt you!_ ”

“Try… harder…” Scott gasped.

“HEY!”

Aithan dropped Scott to the floor and turned around, facing Melissa. “I’d like to try something,” she said before shoving fully charged defibrillator paddles against their chest. They fell back against the floor, stunned, and split back into Ethan and Aiden.

Scott stared at her in amazement. Melissa leaned down to help him up. “Sweetheart, get up! Come on!” she urged.

“I have to find the generator,” he said running along the corridor with her. “I have to turn it on so Derek and Jennifer can get out of the elevator.”

“Who uses an elevator in a storm?” Melissa demanded.

“Jennifer, I think,” Scott answered. “How did you escape Deucalion?”

“I didn’t,” Melissa told him. “He just let me go. Said it was a gesture of goodwill. No other reason.”

Scott shook his head. “He had to have a reason,” he said. “I don’t think he does anything without a reason.”

“Well, if that means I should continue to be profoundly terrified, then don’t worry about it. I’ve got that covered,” Melissa told him. As she rounded the corner, she jumped and screamed.

Slowly, Chris Argent lowered his gun. “Well, it’s good to see you’re okay,” he said.

Scott, shocked, paused to take in the sight of Allison and her dad. “What are those?” he asked as he noticed their equipment.

“Anti-evil-robot weaponry,” Allison told him.

Melissa raised her eyebrows. “That’s a Dracon beam,” she said, pointing.

“It’s Tyler’s,” said Allison.

Melissa started to say something else when her phone buzzed to life. Chris turned to Allison. “She knows?” he asked, and Allison shrugged. Scott gave her a curious look, but she just shrugged again.

“ _Really_?!” Melissa demanded, gawking at her phone.

“Mom, sssh!” Scott warned, looking around. “Come on, let’s go find a safe place.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Melissa said as the group followed him. Allison moved next to Scott, her Dracon held at ready, while Chris moved behind Melissa, guarding their backs with the disintegrator cannon. “Cassie just texted,” Melissa explained.

That surprised Scott. “Uh… what did she say?” he asked with some trepidation.

“That we need to talk,” Melissa reported, and Scott tried not to laugh. He really did.

“God, you’re loud for people trying to avoid being murdered,” Braeden said, walking out from the next hall. A self-satisfied smirk spread across her face at the sight of their surprise.

“Braeden!” Scott cried. “How long have you been here?”

“The _entire_ time,” she told him. She shook her head. “To be honest, I’m really ashamed of everyone right now.”


	4. part 4

“So then they’re essentially trapped?” Chris said as the five of them collected in an exam room.

“Yeah, right,” said Scott. “There’s no way of getting them out without turning the power back on.”

“Okay, but if the electricity comes back on, won’t they hear the elevator moving?” asked Allison. “We’re not equipped to fight alphas. We came here to take down Jennifer. As much as I’d like to vaporize them, it’s not really the noble route.”

Braeden reach out and lifted Allison’s Dracon beam, pointing to a symbol that looked kind of like an ostrich. “That’s the stun setting,” she told her.

“Oh,” said Allison.

“Okay, but even with proper weapons, it’s too much of a risk,” said Scott. “It’s the five of us against really, _really_ powerful alphas.”

“And an evil robot druid,” Melissa reminded him. “I mean… That’s what you said right? She’s still definitely the bad guy? You just needed to work with her to save Cora and retrieve Konstanty.”

Allison and Chris both turned to her. “Konstanty?” Allison repeated.

“You don’t know the name of your local sheriff?” Braeden asked skeptically.

Chris shook his head. “I’m not even sure I know which teacher this is.”

“Very white. Straight brown hair. Five-six. Not quite thirty,” Braeden informed him. “Very attractive.”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“Okay, you can judge all you want, but I know you all now know exactly which teacher I’m talking about,” Braeden said.

Suddenly, Allison looked past Braeden then. Stepped slightly to the side. Checked her appearance in the reflective surface behind Braeden. “I’ve got an idea…” she said.

– –

Ethan and Aiden heard the clack of heels across the hall, coming from the area of the elevator that Kali had sworn she’d lost Derek and Jennifer in. They took off after her.

Catching sight of the twins through Allison’s phone, Braeden revved the engine on the Argents’ SUV and took off toward the basement garage where the ambulance would be.

Outside the ER, Kali leapt through a second story window at the figure fleeing below. Allison turned, raised her Dracon beam, and fired, stunning Kali instantly. The twins stopped in their tracks but not soon enough. Allison stunned them, too.

On the roof, Melissa switched on the power.

Braeden pulled up next to the ambulance. She, Stiles, and Boyd rushed to get Cora, Isaac, and Erica inside. Stiles hesitated by the ambulance door, staring at a form on a clipboard there. “Stiles!” Braeden shouted.

He jabbed a finger at the signature line. “Guardian! It’s not a person who guards! It’s a parent!” he exclaimed.

Braeden squinted at him. “Yeah? Obvi–“ That was when it hit her. “Shit, Melissa!” She tossed Stiles the keys. “I’m going to back up up Scott and Argent and go find Melissa. You get them to safety.”

“But–!”

“I _know_ he’s your bestest friend ever, but I’m armed and you’re not,” Braeden told him. She clasped his face to make him look her in the eye. “So think: What would _Scott_ want you to do?”

“Get to safety,” Stiles admitted.

“Good boy.” She took off toward the stairwell.

“I hate you!” Stiles called after her before getting in the car. As he drove away, he felt like he was leaving his heart and lungs behind.

Braeden got to the elevator just as Chris was running off. She sighted Derek on the floor. “Where’s Scott?” she called, running to catch up with Chris.

“He took off the moment he saw Derek on the floor!” Chris told her. “I think he believes that Blake’s after his mother.”

“She is,” Braeden told him. She ran faster, and Chris ran struggled to run after her. He swore under his breath about “damn supernaturals,” which caused Braeden to laugh. “Sorry, but I couldn’t possibly be more human,” she told him. “You’re outta shape, Old Man!”

Suddenly, she came to a stop, and Chris nearly skidded into her. Scott was clutching his mother in the hall like he never wanted to let go. Melissa looked very confused. “I thought I was supposed to meet you?” she asked. “And aren’t you supposed to be driving?”

“Stiles drove,” said Braeden. “We thought Blake was going to kidnap you.”

“She didn’t,” said Melissa.

“Let’s go,” Braeden said, leading the way back out to her car.

“Derek,” Scott reminded her, and Chris groaned, saying that he would go get him. He watched him go, then told Braeden, “Deucalion let Mom go. He said it was a gesture of goodwill. Do you think…?” He cut himself off when he received a text from Allison. He opened the message and read that she’d gotten away clean and was on her way home. She’d messaged Agrona to tell her that she was no longer needed as backup.

Chris then returned with Derek hanging off his shoulder. “Is he okay?” Braeden asked.

“He’ll live,” Chris said, and Derek snarled at him.

“In that case, let’s go before Deucalion realizes that he’s not getting what he wants tonight,” she said, leading the way out of the hospital.

“So you think that was what Deucalion wanted?” Scott asked, still hugging his mother as he followed after Braeden. Chris again dropped in line behind them to watch their backs. “He thought she’d take Mom, and I’d have to join him to stop her.”

“How could he be sure?” Melissa asked. “There are thousands of parents in the local area. Even if we go for ‘immediately convenient,’ there’s also Chris, making it at least 50/50.”

“He didn’t know I was coming,” Chris pointed out as they reached the front doors.

“No, Deucalion’s hypothesis was good,” said Braeden. “Scott, Stiles, and Allison are a unit. If she took Stiles’s father, it’s likely she’s aiming to have a unit of parents reflecting them. Especially since she’s been manipulating the entire pack today.” She led them to her black town car and opened the door for Melissa and Scott. Chris helped Derek into the passenger seat before moving to the back seat with Melissa.

Scott hesitated by the door. “Then why _didn’t_ she?” he asked.

Braeden sighed and slid into the driver’s seat and started the ignition. Scott took that as a cue to get in and shut the door. She backed the car out of its spot and headed away from the hospital. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I’m churning it all over right now. It’s possible that she’s actually petty enough to not make a strong move like that simply because Deucalion expects her to.”

“Or?” asked Chris.

“Or Melissa needs to call Cassie back and ask where she is and who’s with her,” said Braeden.

“Cassie was mom’s girlfriend for a few months,” said Scott. “I liked her, but that hardly counts.”

“Hence the second part of the question.”

Slowly, Melissa’s eyes widened with realization.

– –

“I have to say,” said Sheriff Stilinski, tied to a pole in some old root cellar. “You’re not really the person I expected her to bring down next.”

“Well, that works out nicely because I’m not who I expected to be randomly kidnapped, either,” Marco quipped. “In fact, I have no idea what’s going on, but we’ll be out of here in a second.” He looked around as much as he could, then he closed his eyes and concentrated. He immediately received painful shocks from the wire-coiled ropes. “Okay,” he groaned. “Or I can just sit here. That’s also good.”


End file.
